HISTORY
SOKO was created in 1950 by
the relocation of the
aircraft factory section of Ikarus company
from Zemun, SR
Serbia. Officially founded
as "Preduzeće Soko" (Soko
Corporation, soko meaning
"falcon" in Serbian), soon
after it was renamed "Soko
Vazduhoplovna Industrija, RO
Vazduhoplovstvo" (Soko
Aeronautical Industry, RO
Aeronautics). Its first
director was Yugoslav
People's Army colonel
Ivan Sert. The following
directors of the company
were engineers Miljenko
Pješčić and Tomislav Mirić.
The serial manufacture of
numerous types of aircraft
was projected by the Aeronautical
Technical Institute in Belgrade.
Besides aircraft, SOKO also
produced helicopters under
licence. Located in the
vicinity of Mostar, it
mostly used the Mostar
Airport for
test flights.
During the 1970s and 1980s,
Soko Mostar and Avioane
Craiova of Romania,
co-developed the Soko J-22
Orao and IAR-93,
respectively. Soko also
cooperated with Sikorsky,
Westland and Aérospatiale in
producing various
helicopters under license.
By the 1980s, SOKO was
working on the Novi
Avion project,
intended to develop an
indigenous
fourth-generation,
supersonic multi-role
fighter that
would enabled the Yugoslav
Air Force to be supplied
with domestically-built
modern fighters. The
production was planned to
begin around 1991; however,
the outbreak of the Yugoslav
wars and the
enactment of an
international arms
embargo caused
the project to be
cancelled. During the early
1990s, the factory ceased
aircraft production
altogether. The facilities
were partially dismantled
and relocated to Serbia,
where they were aligned with
the Utva
Aviation Industry in Pančevo which
had already been working
closely with SOKO in the
manufacturing of Orao and Super
Galeb.
Today Soko produces auto
parts focusing mostly on
transmissions, drive shafts
and gears.
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